Local News

Watseka Fire answers call to house fire

An overloaded electrical outlet triggered a house fire in Watseka New Year's Eve.

Damage was limited to the kitchen in the 500-block of N. 4th Street, where Fire Chief Dave Mayotte said electric heaters being used to heat the house was too much of a load on the electric system. Mayotte said the home's furnace was not operating because of the flood.

Watseka issues Disaster Emergency Proclamation

---2nd time in six months ---

The flooding in the city of Watseka has again prompted a Local Disaster Emergency Proclamation. The flooded conditions is affecting homes, businesses and infrastructure in the city. Mayor Bob Harwood, in issuing the emergency call, said residents have been displaced from homes, businesses are forced to close, and city resources are nearly overwhelmed. Local resources will be in jeopardy in another 1-2 days.

The proclamation has been forwarded to Iroquois County officials. The county would have to follow through, issuing its own proclation and then forward the request to the state of Illinois.

Bourbonnais man’s body recovered in flood waters

Emergency responders recovered the body of 49-year-old Shawn Beaupre Wednesday, two days after his car was discovered submerged in a flooded creek. The body was found near the East Fork Mazon River in Livingston County.

The investigation continues. Beaupre was on his way to work as a correctional officer at the Pontiac Prison Monday night when the icy weather apparently ran his car off the road into Gooseberry Creek, near Campus (IL).

The car was discovered Tuesday afternoon. The window was open and the keys were missing. Police believe Beaupre climbed out of the car but was swept away by the current. He was found about three-quarters of a mile upstream, near Route 17.

Ameren, Nicor offer safety tips for dealing with floods

Ameren Illinois says efforts continue to restore power to some locations following the intense line of storms that brought wind, rain and ice across the company's service territory. Ameren Illinois activated its Emergency Operations Center on Monday to coordinate service restoration, logistical support and communications.

Ameren says nearly 500 resources were deployed to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. The largest concentration of outages was in the Peoria and Galesburg areas.

The company offered several safety tips to keep in mind when this sort of weather strikes:

• Remember to call Ameren Illinois at 1-800-755-5000 as soon as possible to report a downed line, natural gas odor or an outage.

Nicor Gas spokesperson Bernie Anderson advises the public to call the company's customer service number if they need gas service shut off to their homes. The number to call: 888-642-6748.

Nicor customers smelling gas can also call or contact their fire department.

Search for missing man resumes in Livingston County

A search was to resume today (Wednesday) for a missing Bourbonnais man, whose car was found in a creek Tuesday in Livingston County. Emergency personnel were searching Gooseberry Creek trying to find 49-year-old Shawn Beaupre.

Beaupre works as a correctional officer in Pontiac. His wife reported him missing when he didn't show up for work Monday night. His car was discovered in Gooseberry Creek. He was on his way to work during Monday's ice storm.

The creek is located four miles west of Reddick.

A storm of freezing rain made road conditions treacherous around the area. By 5 am the next day, Beaupre's wife said she knew something was wrong. Authorities said when the car was found, the keys were missing and one of the windows was down.